What was your assessment of Act 1 Scene 7?

Answer 1

Readers and viewers of the Shakespearean play first met Lady Macbeth [b. c. 1015] in Act 1 Scene 5. She read her husband's letter giving her last-minute notice of an overnight stay by King Duncan I [d. August 14, 1040] and telling her of predictions of upward mobility by the three witches. Lady Macbeth didn't share her reaction to the royal visit with the audience. Instead, she focused on the glorious career moves. That reaction gave readers and viewers a sinking feeling about Lady Macbeth's ambitious, scheming character. The audience's negative suspicions were confirmed somewhat further by the arrival of Macbeth [c. 1014-August 15, 1057] and the quick interaction between him and his Lady. Lady Macbeth quickly took over the conversation, and told her husband how to behave and think towards their sovereign. But it was only in Scene 7 that the audience's worst suspicions were confirmed absolutely. Macbeth tried to talk the two of them out of becoming King of Scotland by foul means if not by fair. His wife relentlessly and ruthlessly removed all of his objections. By the end of the scene, it was clear that the Macbeths shared the fatal, tragic flaw of raging ambition. It also was clear that Macbeth had the additional fatal, tragic flaw of manipulability by his wife. In her presence, he lost the leadership role that he so bravely and nobly held down elsewhere. In her presence, Macbeth only could follow her obsessive, ruthless, scheming, unscrupulous lead.